ON CREEPERS. 



ALL the flies of the browns, drakes, and dun classes, 

 are bred in the water, from eggs or spawn laid on its 

 surface by the females. These eggs or spawn become 

 animated and hatch the young insects, which grow in 

 the water the same as fishes, in the same shape and to 

 the full size of the bodies of their parent flies, when 

 they are called creepers. These creepers are cased and 

 sheathed in a thin waterproof skin, which protects and 

 fits them for the occupation of the water until they are 

 matured for a change ; the skin is then split open at 

 the shoulders, and the fly is hatched, leaving the empty 

 creeper skin behind, as a bird does its shell. 



A description of the creepers of two or three species 

 of the flies of each of these classes, may suffice to give 

 a knowledge of the whole, sufficient for the purposes of 

 the flyfisher. 



CREEPERS OF THE BROWNS CLASS. 



The females of this class may be frequently seen on 

 the tops of posts and rails, battlements of bridges, etc., 

 exuding their eggs as they stand, which adhere to their 

 bodies on the first and second joint of the belly, and 

 which they flap off on to the water with their wings. 

 The eggs of different species vary in color. The creep- 



